1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for wireless communication, and, more particularly, to a method for wireless communication using authentication information.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many wireless networks deploy authentication mechanisms in order to secure network operation. Data confidentiality and security are crucial for all communication systems. One of the challenges is to ensure and confirm that messages are sent by the actual, legitimate senders that the messages are assumed to come from. This problem is even more challenging in wireless networks wherein all communications are broadcast in nature. Therefore, most wireless networks deploy authentication mechanisms. In these authentication mechanisms, authentication information is derived from original messages using security keys. The authentication messages, normally referred to as Message Authentication Code (MAC) or Message Integrity Code (MIC), are attached as part of the packets, and are transmitted through wireless channels.
A MAC is a short piece of information that authenticates a message. A MAC algorithm may receive as inputs a secret key and message of arbitrary length to be authenticated. The MAC algorithm may output a MAC value, which is sometimes referred to as a tag. The MAC value may protect both the data integrity and authenticity of a message by enabling verifiers also possessing the secret key to detect any changes in the content of the message. An MIC is different from a MAC in that an MIC does not use a secret key in its operation.
Depending on data payload and security strength requirements, MAC length varies. For instance, in IEEE 802.15.4, the MIC can be four, eight or sixteen bytes.
On the other hand, wireless networks operate under other constraints, such as energy consumption and bandwidth allocation in addition to security considerations. These challenges are even more critical in low data rate, battery-driven wireless networks for time-constrained applications, such as building security, industrial control, and automotive networks. Since in wireless networks, data communication may consume the majority of energy, it may be desirable to increase energy efficiency via reducing data communication volume (packet sizes).
What is neither disclosed nor suggested by the prior art is a method of wireless communication in which authentication is ensured but energy consumption and bandwidth requirements are kept at a low level.